On the eve of the cardinal’s sworn deposition in a lawsuit over a priest accused of molesting 26 boys in his archdiocese in 1987, Mahony sent this, his 13th tweet, to his 979 followers:

“@CardinalMahony Just a few short hours before my departure for Rome. Will be tweeting often from Rome, except during the actual Conclave itself. Prayers!”

The cardinal doesn’t mention that before he boards the plane he’ll have to give a four hour deposition in the case of Father Nicolas Aguilar-Rivera, who fled to Mexico shortly after a top Mahony aid warned the cardinal the pedophile priest was likely to be arrested.

Mahony’s successor Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez publicly rebuked the cardinal for his mishandling of this and dozens of other cases.

One of Mahony’s fellow cardinals told an Italian newspaper “it’s disturbing” that Mahony should help choose the new pope. Cardinal Velasio de Paolis politely suggested the L.A. cardinal recluse himself.

But Cardinal Mahony doesn’t get into all that in his tweet. Maybe 140 characters isn’t enough room.

SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images(LONDON) -- A tweet insulting athletes from another country has cost a second Olympian a spot at the games.

Michel Morganella, one of the players on Switzerland’s Olympic men’s soccer team, sent out such a tweet following his team’s 2-1 loss to South Korea on Sunday. Morganella’s tweet said that Koreans should “burn themselves” and described them as “retards.”

Despite Morganella’s quick apology posted on his Twitter page, a prompt response from the Swiss team chief resulted in Morganella’s Twitter account deleted from the social networking site and his dismissal from the team.

Morganella is the second Olympian to get the boot because of a racially charged tweet. Greek triple jumper Voula Papachristou was left in Athens after her so-called “joke” about Africans in Greece.

“With so many Africans in Greece, at least the mosquitoes of West Nile will eat homemade food!!!” she tweeted.

The triple jumper was no longer welcome to travel to London with her fellow Greek athletes.

“Social media is, in the end, about how people are using it,” says social media expert Sree Sreenivasan, chief digital officer and professor at Columbia University. “Social media doesn’t change the people who are using it and racism has been part of human nature and part of sports for centuries.”

He added, “Twitter is like athletes having their own press conference.”

The International Olympic Committee created “IOC Social Media, Blogging and Internet Guidelines” which clearly states that upon noncompliance of the guidelines an athlete can be stripped of their Olympic Games accreditations.

“These athletes know they live in a world of sponsorships, public opinion and their fans,” said Sreenivasan. “The world today is about branding, having a following, having people cheer you on and social media has a role in that, social media can build you up.”

Social media can also break you down. An inappropriate tweet can send you out of London, out of the Olympics and straight home faster than you can tweet your apology. Game over.